The beginning of an end for Isis

Isis plays their last show ever at Club Lambi as part of the Suoni Per Il Poppolo festival.

It’s the final curtain call for Boston-bred and LA-based post-metal outfit Isis. After 13 years and five full-length releases—as well as a myriad number of EPs and live albums—the Ipecac Record recording artists’ appearance at Club Soda on June 23 will be their last show ever.

In a posting on the band’s official blog, the 5-piece band said that they had “done everything [they] wanted to do, said everything [they] wanted to say” and didn’t wish to overstay their welcome, as well as noting the fact that Montreal was the site of their very first show in 1997.

Formed in Boston in 1997 and borrowing from an aesthetic largely created by bands such as Neurosis, Godflesh and The Melvins, the band’s catalog is full of songs that ebb and flow, writing lengthy masterpieces that are all crescendo and denouements, full of passages with impossibly slow tempos that interplay with lighter sections that utilize clean instrumentation.

Many consider the band’s 2002 album Oceanic to be their definitive statement: an hour-long sonic journey that incorporates many memorable musical passages into a solid effort, though all five of the band’s albums are all distinct and worth checking out.

Response from fans has largely been one of shock as well as acceptance. The response to the blog posting numbered in the hundreds as fans thanked guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner and company for the memories. The band’s Club Soda appearances will have people travelling from as far away as Australia to be in attendance, as the band itself is planning a truly memorable evening.

Isis plays at Club Soda (1225 Blvd. Saint-Laurent) with Cave In on Wed. June 23. Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.

This article originally appeared in The Link Volume 31, Issue 1, published June 11, 2010.